At HOMINY,OK  Drummond Home tradition had one night of spooky storytelling. This year on the evening of Oct. 27, 2018, were storytellers from Bartlesville, Skiatook, Sperry, Wynona and Hominy who told their stories well known, made up and some that were true. One well-known and well-documented story shared by two storytellers was about the Spook Light that appears along a lonely stretch of gravel road in Oklahoma near the Missouri line. Here is a bit of background.

     According to the Joplin, Mo. website, the spook light, is also called the Joplin Spook Light or the Tri-State Spook Light. The website https:// www.joplinmo.org/states that the light is located in Oklahoma near the town of Quapaw. However, it is most often seen from the east, which is why it has been seen in the tiny hamlet of Hornet, Mo., and the larger, better known town of Joplin, the website said. Legend said that two Indian lovers from opposite tribes wished to marry. The tribes did not approve. The couple decided to jump into the raging river at the same time to escape. The girl drowned and the boy, brokenhearted drowned too. The Spook light is their spirits together. Some say the Spook light was first seen by Indians along the infamous Trail of Tears in 1836. In 1881 it was also referred to in a publication called Ozark Spook Light.  The website states that the orange fire-like ball has reportedly been appearing nightly for well over 100 years. Though many paranormal and scientific investigators have studied the light, including the Army Corps of Engineers, none has been able to provide a conclusive answer as to the origin of the light.

     Storyteller Shelia Smith from Sperry said that she had experienced the Spook Light first hand as a child. Yearly, from first grade through junior high, her family took her there . Occasionally there were one or more bouncing balls of light. One time it even landed on her car hood. The Spook Light often appeared to lovers or young married couples. The Spook Light was down a dirt road near the border of Oklahoma and Missouri.  Looking like a ball of fire, it might come and then faded out. During the early 1970's, there was a  gentleman who ran the Spook Light Museum. Putting in a quarter in the telescopes, helped to spot the Spook Light. 

     Bartlesville storyteller, Dianne Fallis told a story about the Spook Light. Her grandparent's friends were courting. They had gone on a picnic there in 1940s and the Spook Light appeared. This scared her grandmother's friend who jumped up and ran to the Model-T. The future groom quickly proposed marriage because he wanted her to accept. In the car, the couple was further frightened when the ball of light sat on the car's hood. The future bride accepted his proposal and the ball of light moved on.

     Another storyteller, Kenda Woodburn from Skiatook told a fictional character story of the Drummond family members. The Drummonds were from Scotland and this story was similar to the Irish about the little people. She created a fictional cousin for Cecil and Gentner Drummond who she described as very kind. He was hunting in the woods one day with his dog when he met a tall man with a red beard who offered him a drink. He accepted the refreshment, which tasted of cinnamon and cloves. Like Rip Van Winkle, he felt sleepy and laid down. When he awoke his gun was rusted and his dog was gone. He found his way back home only to discover he had been asleep for 20 years, while Cecil and Gentner were away at college. Their mother, Addie, recognized him and welcomed the hunter home. The moral of the story was don't accept food or drink from a stranger. You never know what could happen.

     Other storytellers were Carolyn Christy, a member of the Hominy City Council , Drummond Home Manager, Beverly Whitcomb, Lacy Ratliff and Roseanne McKee. Four children dressed as twin ghosts, a pirate and a genie also volunteered.”